Salary
Below you will find information about the salary setting process at Linnaeus University. This includes the ongoing and previous salary review, first for doctoral students and teaching assistants, followed by the process for other Saco-S affiliated members. For the latter, reference is made to the salary policy and salary criteria available at the university, an excerpt from the local agreement for the most recent salary setting, an evaluation of the RALS 2024 salary setting process, and a link to "Saco lönesök".
Salary Review for Doctoral Students and Teaching Assistants
There is a special local collective agreement for doctoral students and teaching assistants. A little over a week into February, the trade unions that conclude agreements for doctoral students (Saco-S and OFR/S) negotiated a local agreement with the employer and the new doctoral salaries that apply retroactively from 1 January 2026. Payment of the new salaries will take place in March. You can access the current agreement via the link below (in Swedish):
The work on the upcoming salary review for doctoral students, which will apply from the turn of the year 2026/2027, is planned to begin in the fall of 2026.
Salary Review for Other Saco-S Members
The RALS 2025 salary revision for other Saco-S affiliated members has recently been completed. A new agreement that regulates the salary for those members who disagreed with the employer's proposal for a new salary was signed in the first half of March 2026. In addition to the agreed salaries, the agreement includes an appendix outlining measures the parties intend to develop in the next salary review (see Appendix 2). During the autumn, we will continue the work of developing the salary setting process, among other things by developing both a joint action plan together with the employer, as well as individual action plans for those members who have repeatedly disagreed with the employer about new salaries. In recent years, there has been an additional appendix with content that the Saco-S association believes needs to be improved regarding salary setting - but where the employer does not have the same opinion (see Appendix 3). You can find these appendices, regarding the salary review 2025, via the link below (in Swedish):
Protocol new salaries 2025 (Appendix 2 and Appendix 3)
As a basis for the salary setting that takes place at the university, an agreement is signed between the Saco-S association and the employer, which aims to regulate the salary setting process. The work to develop such an agreement has only been done now after the salary revision RALS 2025 has been completed. Our current assessment is that the changes in it will not be that extensive. For now, you can access the agreement for the currently implemented salary setting process RALS 2025 via the link below (in Swedish):
We estimate that several salary-setting managers will begin salary setting discussions before the summer and that this work will intensify after the holidays. The first salary-setting discussion must focus on your performance and your responsibilities during the period from Oktober 1, 2025, to September 30, 2026. A second salary setting discussion will be held later, where you will be offered a new salary that you must decide on based on your manager's objective justification based on the applicable salary criteria. The new salary will apply (retroactively) from October 1, 2026. In the event of disagreement, a third meeting can also be held. For those who disagree with their manager about the new salary proposal even after a third meeting, the new salary will be determined in a collective negotiation.
In accordance with agreements from recent years, the salary-setting manager participates in the collective negotitation process, as well as HR representatives. Salary-setting managers were then asked to develop their justification for the salary setting. Based on that conversation, Saco-S has put forward arguments for a higher salary increase for everyone, based on, among other things, the employer's sometimes vague justifications in relation to salary criteria and that there has been a discrepancy between performance and the new salary that was proposed.
Salary Mapping and Gender Equality
The employer is also obliged to conduct an annual salary survey where salary differences between women and men should be in focus. A fundamental idea in this work is that unreasonable salary differences between women and men should be discovered and that future salary reviews should/should address them. The aforementioned work began in the fall of 2024 and was supposed to be completed at the turn of the year 2024/2025, but unfortunately the work was paused by the employer for a long time. However, the work on the salary survey has been resumed in September/October 2025, but unfortunately there is no report yet that the trade unions have signed. However, with support from the EU's upcoming wage transparency directive, we expect that this work can develop in a positive way in the future.
Resources and Support for the 2026 Salary Review (RALS 2026)
As support for the upcoming salary review (RALS 2026), we refer to a link on the SULF website (SULF is the Saco-S union at the university with the most members and is therefore our contact union – from which we take support in union matters) that deals with salary and salary setting, which among other things contains a couple of films and other information with tips for salary setting. You can access films and other information via the link below:
https://sulf.se/jobb-lon-och-villkor/lon-och-lonessattande-samtal/
The last time the Saco-S association had a members' meeting about the salary process and salary-setting talks was in the end of September 2025. We do not expect any significant changes in the salary-setting process that will result in new salaries from October 1, 2026. A link to the PowerPoint presentation used in that meeting is provided below. It outlines the salary-setting process both generally and specifically for the university (in Swedish):
Salary and salary setting 2025 - Saco-S
Additional Background on Salary Policy
Salary-setting at the university is also governed by a national framework agreement for the state sector (RALS) signed between Saco-S and the Swedish Employers' Agency. The agreement was last revised on October 1, 2024. The changes in content from previous agreements are limited, but the ambition has been to emphasize the long-term perspective and to clarify the structure and language. You can access the agreement via the following link (in Swedish):
In addition to this, several local agreements at the university relate to salary and compensation. In addition to doctoral students and teaching assistants, there is a local agreement on salary for hourly TA staff. In addition, there is, among other things, a local agreement on unsocial hours compensation for teachers and postdoctoral fellows. You can access the local agreements via the link below:
https://lnu.se/en/medarbetare/employed-at-lnu/steering-documents/
For a few years now, the salary criteria at the university have included criteria that apply to all employees, as well as more in-depth criteria for teachers and researchers, for technical and administrative staff and for managers. You can access, among other things, the salary policy and current salary criteria via the link below:
https://lnu.se/en/medarbetare/employed-at-lnu/salary-and-allowances/lonesatting/
The Saco-S association has compiled evaluations of the salary setting process for the last nine salary audits based on results from member surveys. The latest evaluation (RALS 2025) contains comparisons of results from previous salary audits and brief comments on these. We intend to return with a more detailed evaluation, which also contains results from questions with open-ended answer options. However, you can access a first version of the evaluation of RALS 2025 via the link below (in Swedish):
Evaluation RALS 2025 (ver. 260312)
On a national level, SULF has conducted an evaluation of the salary setting process at colleges and universities in 2023. You can access the report “Salary setting talks as a salary setting model in the higher education sector – evaluation” via the link below (in Swedish):
To gain insight into salary levels, members of a Saco-S-affiliated union, can use “Saco Lönesök” tool, available (in Swedish) at:
https://www.saco.se/yrkesliv/lon/saco-lonesok/
If you have any questions regarding salary and salary setting, please feel free to contact one of the members of the Saco-S salary negotiation team:
Karina Petersson (karina.petersson@lnu.se)
Eva Pohl (eva.pohl@lnu.se)
Jan Andersson (jan.andersson@lnu.se)